Eyes of Compassion

[avad]

"Peace and compassion go hand in hand with understanding and non-discrimination. We choose one thing over another when we discriminate. With the eyes of compassion we can look at all of living reality at once. A compassionate person sees himself or herself in every being. With the ability to view reality from many viewpoints, we can overcome all viewpoints and act compassionately in each situation. This is the highest meaning of the word "reconciliation"...
The practice of meditation on interdependent co-arising is one way to arrive at this realization. When it is attained, discrimination vanishes and reality is no longer sliced by the sword of conceptualization. We have to continue practicing until we can see a child's body of skin and bones in Uganda or Ethiopia as our own. Then we will have realized non-discrimination, real love. According to the Lotus Sutra, looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion is a capacity of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. When we meditate on the First Noble Truth, the truth of suffering, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is present in us."
-from The Sun My Heart
Thich Nhat Hanh

Comments

raditating ego

[rokkitz.livejournal.com]

think there is an attractive idea of putting oneself through a very structured training in which the expectation is to emerge as a stronger, braver, more disciplined person...

at the end of highschool i joined the canadian armed forces reserve... from what i understand, the canadian reserve involves a greater level of commitment than in the US (weekly stuff, frequent weekend exercises)... it was all about personal challenge. and after three years i was no longer challenged by The Service. at the rank of corporal, one makes the decision to be a CFL (corporal-for-life) or to pursue leadership courses. i was no longer interested in Them, and they were no longer interested in Me.

the point of this long-winded reply is that it wasn't for the killing. it was for the personal challenge, and when that dried up i moved on.